Okay, let's be a bit honest here...I'm playing catch up with this review considering I'm currently reading the February issue. That's also the reason this is being posted late on a Saturday night. Considering that its still January though, I just didn't feel right not covering this issue.
Of course, the stars of the issue are the Dark Angels, but lets see what else the issue had in store for us, eh?
I'm not going to spend an overly large amount of this review about the Dark Angels, but I will say one key thing. All the speculation over what the WD pages showed of the codex, the debate over what the rules were called... I didn't have to debate with anyone. I just had to take a screenshot of the page of the magazine, bring it into my photos app and enlarge it. The resolution was good enough that I could read each entry and rule without wondering what it said. Couple that with the bonus of the 360 degree views and enlarge-able images per model, I could decide whether I liked the model or not just from the magazine. That saves me some cash in the long run right there.
Army of the Month is typically a feature I enjoy reading and spending time with, digesting what was done on the army, and if I want to steal any of the ideas. This month, however, featured the Tyranid army of White Dwarf's own editor. Really? I get it, if I was the editor of WD, I'd want a few of my models in there as well at some point...but this large of a feature? Don't get me wrong, I liked the army, but I'd rather has seen someone's work who didn't have a guaranteed opportunity to get a full feature.
A brief mention is owed to both the Design Studio and the Battle Report features. The Design Studio is a no-brainer. As a designer myself, I love the behind-the-scenes looks this gives a hobbyist into the world of our little army men. But why the Battle Report? They are integrating video into them, built into the digital White Dwarf! The possibilities that built-in videos or interviews for other features of the magazine has me excited.
The 3 Muskete...Er, Columnists. Jervis speaks to the discouraged painter who feels they won't live up to the quality they see from the Eavy Metal team. This is actually a decent column that any starting painter should read. Vetok writes about gaming at home versus a local store, or anywhere else but home. I'm not sure if I just missed the point of this article, or if Vetock exhausted his writing abilities with the DA codex, but I could have skipped this one and been happy. John Blanche yet again inspires and makes me want to create just for the sake of creating. His iconic figures, and painting are inspiring to me and I'd love to shake this man's hand. I may have to dive into INQ28 if he keeps this up.
Kit Bash and Paint Splatter are usually my first and second visits when opening up a WD. This time around, Paint Splatter was all over the Dark Angels...and the Editor's Tyranids. I'll give the Nids this though, there were a couple of nice techniques covered. The feature was missing the Readers' submission section though. Kit Bash covered terrain, which isn't the most exciting for me, but at least it included a Readers' section though.
Parade Ground was a pleasant surprise this time around, as they covered the full breadth of the World's Golden Demon competitions. So many pictures, so much inspiration and eye candy!
While the content was a touch predicable this time around, considering the Dark Angels imminent release, the overall magazine was a fun read. I'll be going back to those Golden Demon winners' images for quite some time, let me tell you.
Now back to reading the February issue...
- Tim